CHANGING REAR SHOCKS/REAR SHOCK MOUNTS on an E36/8 Z3 M Coupe Remove the rear luggage compartment floor trim. Remove the right (passenger side) rear compartment cover, and the M Mobility System. Remove the left (driver s side) rear compartment cover. The two compartment covers are secured with slotted plastic fasteners (four right, three left). Rotate the fastener 90 degrees and it will pop out. Remove the front floor mat, the one that is right behind the seats. Remove two Phillips screws, and then slide the panel towards the rear of the car about two inches and lift up. If you have trouble with these steps, stop now!
Remove the two small covers, one on each side of the roller sun blind assembly held on by spring clips. Then remove the two 10mm nuts on each side and remove the roller sun blind assembly. Remove the small triangular tray at the left rear (driver s side) on the floor. This is held in by a small white plastic clip. Some force is required to pop this clip loose
Now remove the spring-loaded lashing eyes (D-rings) near the floor on each of the carpeted wheel housing trim panels. Use a small flathead screwdriver to pry out the flat plastic finisher inside each D-ring. This finisher is an inch and a half wide and an inch
tall. There is a small slot at the top, where you use the screwdriver to pry it out. It takes a bit of fiddling to remove it once it is loose, and they only fit back in the one side, so mark them. Two big Phillips head bolts hold each lashing eye assembly to the wheel housing. Remove the small brackets in the upper rear corner - each has a single, very visible Phillips head screw. Keep these two Phillips head screws and washers separate from all the other Phillips head screws you remove as they are slightly different from the rest. Pop out the breast (short curvy 4" wide black plastic trim panels) at the rear base of each window. They are held in with a spring clip, and just pop out.
Remove the two screws at the rear of each 4" wide black plastic side finisher trim panel - the one that runs along the bottom edge of the side rear windows. This lets you bend the trim panel out a bit, providing access to the top of the carpeted wheel housing trim panels.
Remove the one rearmost and the center expansion rivet at the top of the carpeted wheel housing trim. These two rivets are covered by the long plastic side finisher. There are two more rivets on the driver s side floor and two on the right (passenger) side (one on the floor and one in the top center under the long side finisher) that must be removed. These expansion rivets are the push-in type that may require some force to pry loose.
Now remove the sub-woofer and amplifier covers. The small expansion rivets securing the top of these covers are the screw-type that have a female square head. If you don t have a square driver then use a small Torex or Phillips head driver. Some force is required to release the bottom white clips. Don t be shy; give the bottom of the covers a good strong pull and they will pop loose.
You are now ready to pull the carpeted wheel housing trim pieces out from underneath the long, 4" wide, black plastic side finisher trim panels. On the right (passenger) side you can pull both the carpeted wheel housing trim panel as well as the thick rubber insulation piece away from the wheel housing and reach in with your arm to gain access to the rear shock mount. Be sure to pull the gas cap door release through the insulation prior to pulling the insulation away from the wheel housing. On the left (driver s) side access is more challenging because the carpeted wheel housing panel extends back farther towards the rear of the car. The thick rubber insulation cannot be pulled away from the wheel housing. Not to be deterred by this simple impediment go get a box cutter or Exacto knife and cut a 12 inch long slit in the rubber insulation parallel to the ground and just below the top of the wheel housing. You should now be able to reach behind the carpeted wheel housing panel and push your hand through the slit in the rubber insulation thereby gaining access to the rear shock mount. The rear shock mount is secured to the wheel housing with two 13mm crush lock nuts. You can now reach these fasteners with a 3/8ths ratchet drive. You re working blind, but it doesn t take long to remove the four crush lock nuts. Also remove the domed rubber dust cap from the top of the rear shock mount. If you plan on installing externally adjustable rear shocks now is the time to cut an X shock adjustment slot into the rubber insulation directly above of the rear shock mount as well as drill adjustment access holes in the carpeted wheel housing panels. After removing the rear shocks you can reach up under the wheel well through the shock tower hole and, using a sharp pick, punch a small pilot hole in the carpeted wheel housing
panel. Then, using this small pilot hole as a guide, cut a one inch circular hole in the carpeted wheel housing panel with a one inch hole saw. Or measure as shown here A shock adjustment tool is available from http://www.victoryproductdesign.com/
Then cover the shock adjustment hole with a plastic cap purchased at Home Depot Reassembly of the rear interior pieces is pretty much in the reverse order of the above sequence. One consolation is that the plastic expansion rivets got back in much easier than they came out.